Document Freedom Day

Melbourne, Australia, 26 March 2008: apc.au celebrates Document Freedom Day releasing 10 years of articles under Creative Commons

apc.au (formally c2o / Toy Satellite) releases 10 years of essays, lectures, reports and articles dealing with information communication technologies for cultural development (ICT4CD). The full list can be found at in both open and portable document formats. All the papers are available for sharing and re-publication under a Creative Commons Australia license.

A global initiative celebrated by roughly 200 teams from more than 60 countries, “Document Freedom Day” is aimed at increasing awareness of the value of open document standards. apc.au, an open standards advocate, is proud to support “Document Freedom Day 2008.”

Open standards allow any conforming application to work with the data they encode, preventing vendor lock-in and providing an open playing ground for competition. Open standards are public domain and do not require legal forms or commercial agreements to use them, allowing anyone to produce an application that meets the standard. Open document standards help drive competition and bring freedom of choice to the creators and consumers of information. By using open document standards we can ensure that our information is accessible as required, now and in the future, regardless of the applications in use.

“Many have experienced the pain of trying to convert from one proprietary format to another when exchanging documents (eg: from MS Word to Lotus),” says Grant McHerron, apc.au Technical Director. “Formatting is lost or broken and re-work is often required. This extends even to different versions of the same product, as those using Office 2000 are unable to read information created by MS Word 2007. Storing information in open document standards facilitates the flow of information and prevents its loss when older applications become obsolete.”

In addition to the value of open standards for storing information, apc.au is also a champion of open licensing. Andrew Garton, apc.au’s Managing Director, says “The author may choose to reserve some or all rights through open licenses, providing consumers with immediate access to how content may be used, re-used and / or attributed without having to communicate with neither the author nor any 3rd party. Open licenses puts rights management directly into the hands of authors of any form and medium.”

With support from the Free Software Foundation, Google, IBM, Red Hat Linux, Sun Microsystems and many other organisations, Document Freedom Day is a volunteer, grass roots effort to ensure people and organisations realise the importance of open document standards.

apc.au is a digital media communications organisation founded in 1997. We produce computer mediated collaborative “events” for public space, providing production, performance, research and design expertise drawn from the information technology and cultural development sectors.

For more information contact Grant McHerron on 0422 914 949, or go to:

http://wiki.apc.org.au/
http://wiki.apc.org.au/index.php?title=Document_Freedom_Day_2008

Going forwards backwards

Observations on the final plenary session, Emerging Issues, at the 2007 Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

Access and connectivity for remote rural panel

Observations on the “Access and connectivity for remote rural” panel, held on Tuesday 13 November in Rio de Janeiro, as part of this year’s Internet Governance Forum (IGF).

Finished again…

Just finished the APC promotional video… again! Been about two years in the making. Taken way too long… started off a lot simpler than what it became. Am I happy with it? No… It says far too much for what it is… too much information in a short period of time.

It’s more a short documentary than a corporate video… and with the script changes, it was either re-do the entire voice over every time, or redo only those parts that needed to be changed. I opted for the latter as that was all I could do given time and resources…

Had already spent a great deal of time getting the voice over right in the first edition only to find I had to redo parts here and there which, if you listen closely you’ll find variation in the overall quality… also, I’m nearly two years older since I first started work on it.

Does it do what it’s meant to do? Yes, I believe it does…

Justina Curtis

After more than a decade, at least a quarter of her life, Justina Curtis, co-founder of Toy Satellite, ardent supporter and Director of c2o, an active participant in the Association for Progressive Communications, is moving on to pursue and explore other facets of her life.

East Timor, 2000	WENT Training / Labor Media Seoul, 2001	Regional ICT Training Central Western Queensland, 2002

[madebeer1] has left

Michael de Beer has passed away. He was 33. I don’t know the circumstances of his death, I only know of his life, the little I knew of him… from his work with IGC and later directly with the APC.

Anriette, APC Executive Director, came across this quote from Michael:

I get very angry at systems of racism, sexism, and vilification of the poor. This comes out of my growing up in a family that worked against apartheid; my uncles were either imprisoned or expelled from South Africa, and my parents left before such could befall them and their children. I can see my values and anger in the choices I have made in my life what I have done, what I have not done. They are how I chose my college major, why I travel and work in dangerous places, why I devote many hours each week to political action and service, and my very identity as a person who is about working for social justice.

It speaks for many of us… at least many that I have met, know of, worked with, continue to do so and myself.

APC on Micheal.

iSummit 06

After 14 years since I participated in the Earth Summit, I’m returning to Rio de Janerio… this time as a guest of Creative Commons (CC) and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), with whom I worked with there in 1992. Although back then I paid for half my airfare and Pegasus Networks covered the rest.

Specifically, I’ve been invited to iSummit 06, to participate in the panel, Music, video and multimedia: the cultural commons. This will involve a brief presentation on the recent forum, Free Screen Culture and an overview of my CC projects which include Synesthesia Urbania and Secession Records. More significantly, it will focus on the online video resource tools for OPEN CHANNEL (OC) and our members being created in collaboration with EngageMedia.

Ithala flickr

South African photo set on Flickr is complete. Focusing on the APC Executive Board, Management and Staff meeting held on the Ithala Game Reserve, March 2006.

Thumbnails
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrew-garton/sets/72057594083213022/
Slideshow (needs Flash)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrew-garton/sets/72057594083213022/show/

Took a lot of stills… these are the few that I will reminisce over. Use the tags ithala06 and joburg06 to find photos taken by others scattered about Flickr.

Photo: c5

Tags: ithala06 APC ICT4D

Good causes on the information highway

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is a growing international partnership of networks providing low-cost public access computer communications services to individuals and organisations working for peace, human rights, environmental and economic sustainability.